Banana Flour
BANANA FLOUR
Banana flour is a powder that is traditionally
made of green banana. It’s also known as
the green nendram powder. Bananas
produce grain free flour that has existed in south India for hundreds of
years. It was known as podi
(powder). Banana flour is used as an
alternative for wheat flour as banana flour is gluten free. It has been used as
a cheaper alternative to wheat flour in African countries. It has a texture reminiscent of lighter wheat flours and requires about
25% less volume, making it a good replacement for white and white whole-wheat
flour. This has led to rising popularity among those suffering from celiac
disease and gluten-free dieters.
Production Method
Banana flour is
generally produced with green bananas that are peeled, chopped, dried, and then
ground. This process can be completed traditionally by hand, where the
bananas are sun dried and then either ground in a mortar and pestle or with a
mechanical grinder. The green banana process requires 8–10 kg of raw green
bananas to produce 1 kg of banana flour. In recent years, large
scale commercial production has begun in Africa, South America and in some
parts of Asia using the same basic methodology.
Resistant Starch
Before we move to
the health benefits of banana flour all of us would like to know about resistant
starch. Most carbohydrates in out diet are starches. Starches are long chains
of glucose that are found in various foods that we consume such as potatoes,
raw bananas and so on. But not all the starches that we eat get digested. Sometimes part of the starch goes unchanged
though our digestive tract. In other
words they are resistant to digestion. These
are called resistant starch.
Health benefits
In today’s world where pressure from all walks
of life is very high, we need to keep focus on our health also. With most of us talking about eating healthy,
here are a few reasons why we can switch to banana flour from regular flour. Many
studies on humans show that resistant starch can have powerful health benefits. These include reduced appetite, insulin
sensitivity, lower blood sugar levels and other digestion related benefits. The
main reason why resistant starch work is because it acts like a soluble fermentable
fiber, it goes through our stomach and small intestine undigested. It eventually reaches our large intestine
where it feeds the gut friendly bacteria
· Promotes colon health and aide in the prevention of colon cancer.
· Prevents type 2 diabetes and aide in the treatment of diabetes.
· Lowers cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
· Reduces the
incidence of gallstones.
· Magnesium, Potassium, Zinc, and
vitamin E – A vital catalyst in enzyme activity especially energy production
while it also helps prevent depression, dizziness, muscle weakness and PMS.
Magnesium also helps maintain the body’s pH balance and temperature. It also supports the nervous system. Helps
prevent stroke, aides muscle contraction and works with sodium to control the
body’s water balance. While most of its popularity is attributed to skin,
nails, and hair zinc plays many other important roles in maintaining a healthy
body. Zinc is important for a healthy immune system, healing wounds, healthy
growth and development in childhood, cognitive function and eye health just to
name a few. Antioxidant is most widely
known to benefit skin, provide protection against toxins and maintain healthy
eye and brain function
· Weight management: Banana flour is
made from green banana. The flour being
non-grain based is low on gluten and high on starch and fiber thus very healthy
alternative to regular flour. Resistant starch has fewer calories than regular
starch and may increase the feeling of fullness and help peoples eat less.
If you are currently
trying to break the weight loss plateau, have high blood sugars/diabetes or digestive
issues or if you are simply in a mood for self experimentation then trying out
resistant starch seems like a good idea.
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